Original subtitles

EPISODE THREE

When I married my husband he wasn't the heir of the throne.

He became that after his brother died.

Count of Montecuccoli confessed under torture that he poisoned him

He was quartered alive.

He was a good man and my faithful friend..

... that's why he died.

Everyone thought I planned the murder

and I might have.

They would have forgiven me too if only I had a child.

I had been married for seven years, and never even been pregnant.

My husband will ask for the divorce, I know.

All of France wants that divorce and the Farnese Pope, will grant it!

Because he hates the Medici.

- My lady - I tell you he will grant it!

My lady...

- How old are you? - Twenty one.

Twenty years younger than my husband's mistress.

Wait, then.

Medici women have always have children late.

They won't let me wait.

Why have you come here?

They promised I will meet the king, I have to speak with him.

The king of France is not like ordinary mortals.

He is a supernatural human being.

He is even capable of making himself invisible.

Don't make fun with me.

He is also the one person in France who likes me.

I'll see that he listens to you.

I'm sick he orders... pieces of jewelery from me

I want to make great works.. things which..

Otherwise, why did the king of France rescued me from hell?

Rosso!

How did you know?

The painting, of course... It's me - Benvenuto.

I know who you are.

We were friends, remember?

That evening when Penni tried to kill you for insulting Raphael,..

... I saved your life! Have you forgotten?

It was a long time ago.

- What's wrong with you, Rosso? Nothing's wrong with me!

I am the most important painter in France and the richest or so they say.

Who can count the pictures I painted, the walls I've covered...

And if I start shouting here..

... not even a rat would creep out of his house.

Why did you come?

To work, to make great things.

Why do you want to make them?

Have you ever ask yourself that?

Just for your glory?

Do you want people to say, "Look, what that genius, Benvenuto Cellini did...

perhaps he wants the admiration of God ?

You know, the old icon makers never even sign their names

... they created work of an of unmatchable beauty, ..

... but not out of vanity.

Our world stinks of vanity.

It's not vanity which drives me, it's art.

Art for the rich, art for the rulers?

Whores catch the syphilis from the mighty!

Remember that.

Where are you taking it?

I'm going to burn it.

Why?You can't burn it.

It's just a painting.

No, it's one of Rosso Fiorentino's paintings.

Tell that to the king's mistress ..

... she had one of my frescos repainted by a heck from Bologna.

Then kill him.

That's no use.

Painting pictures is no use either.

France is full of fires.They're burning heretics

I'm bringing my own small offering to the Holy mother church.

If it were only heresy... but there is nothing they haven't acuse me of.

I am a thief, parasite, ... a whore.

I can't paint anymore ..

My hands don't obey my eyes, my eyes no longer obey my imagination.

I have forgotten.

myself.

Benvenuto ... go away now while you still can.

Master!

Master!

What do you want?

Your Majesty.

His Majesty has heard that you planned to make a gift to his royal presence.

Now he is here to see with his own eyes what you prepared.

Take those things away, you fools.

You honor me.

Here, sire, is a design for a door in the castle of Fontainebleau.

A Nymph, to be cast in bronze.

Statuesque ...and naked.

The God Jupiter.

Symbolizing Your Majesty, of course.

I want to make it in bronze ..

... just as the ancients did

Eight times your height of your majesty.

Then I have in mind a head of Julius Caesar to be cast in silver.

And for these beautiful ladies I thought...

Remember I ordered twelve silver candlesticks.

That was the first ... - That was what I wanted.

Now you offer me heads, statues, doors - which do not represent my wishes, ..

but yours, ...

These are your dreams which you hope to realize

with my gold and my silver.

You talk and talk until my head starts to spin

You are a great craftsman

and your skill has found a place in my heart

But there is something you have not understood you artists:

However talented you maybe

would be nothing if we did not give you the opportunity to display your gift.

You will then learn to be more obedient.

Less arrogant and less stubborn, ..

if not your head will be broken like a nut against the wall.

Do you understand?

Yes, Your Majesty.

Make me a salt cellar...

in gold.

Yes, Your Majesty.

Magnificent ladies and gentlemen,..

... allow me to recite a poem for you ...

... to honor this splendid event and all of you, splendid people.

Soon or late, this flesh will turn to dust - ..

... that is the law of nature, stern, but just

None can avoid it, bound the knee we must

Yes, we must die.

You know who wrote those lines?

Etienne D'Orle, poet and printer.

Tortured and burned alive yesterday in the public square.

Have this man thrown out!

Free spirit should not be burned.

I like that poem.

My lady ... come away.

Don't touch me!

I was just spying on my husband.

I've done worse things.

Much worse.

I've shared a bed with that woman, and thanked her.

I led myself to the point of asking her ...

what secret arts she uses between the sheets

so I can I please my husband, ..

not as his wife before God, but as a whore.

Do they tell you that I take part in black masses?

Yes, they accuse me of that,

the ones in which children are killed to please the devil!

They call me "the Florentine witch".

In the last winter I asked the court acrobat ..

what position in bed is most likely to make me pregnant.

Why, why is my womb empty?

Why? .. Can you tell me?

I didn't know, I swear I didn't know.

Where is he?

He told me to get a fial from the apothecary

and acid for some paint.

He said it was for an experiment.

We heard something screaming last night, ..

... we thought it must be a boar in the forest, wounded by dogs.

Rosso, you fool.

This are acid burns.It was suicide.

May God forgive him.

Some people die as a result of bad luck , others of too much good luck.

and no longer know what to do with it.

He was humiliated and persecuted.

He was no longer Rosso Fiorentino.

We ought to be glad that he is dead.

In the name of father and son and holy spirit ... Amen.

Amen.

God has already forgiven him.

He should never have done it.

How could he do this to me?

I have invented after years of practical and eretical experiments ..

...the most aristocratic, excellent and expedient way of wiping my back side .

What is it? I shall tell you.

In the past I had employed a lady's velvet mask ...

... for the softness of the silk was very voluptuous and pleasant to my fundament.

Another time with one of their hoods, and in like manner that was comfortable

Another time with a lady's neckerchief, with some ear-pieces on it but that fetched away all the skin of my tail !

Afterwards, I found a March-cat, and with it I wiped my breech,

but her claws were so sharp that they scratched and exulcerated all my perinee

I wiped myself with hay, with straw, with thatch-rushes, with flax, with wool, with paper, but,

Who his foul tail with paper wipes, Shall at his ballocks leave some chips.

There's no need to wipe your back side unless there is dirt

and it cannot be dirth unless you defecate therefore QED you must shit before you wip your ass

What logic!("Gargantua si Pantagruel")

One of these days, by God I will be doctor, at the Sorbonne ...

And Sorbonne will burn your books, Rabelais.

Be careful not to be thrown into the fire.

He is a heretic.

What a sweet sensation ...

Where are you, I have not finished reading the poem yet.

What's your name?

Tell her not to be afraid of me.

It won't be any good, Excelency.

She is deaf and dumb, she's an orphan.

I brought up myself, even I am a poor widow.

God knows the sacrifices I had to make.

How much does she mean to you?

She is like my own daughter, excelency.

Come.

Come here.

I mean money.

Your Excelency,she's one of God's...

How much?

Pure as an angel.

How can you imagine she's for sale?

What kind of Christian are you?

Come here.

Don't be afraid, I'm not going to eat you.

I won't hurt your angel and I won't let her live in a pit like this.

I'll give you 10 ducats, 10 more than you deserve.

Your Grace, in time like this virtue is a comodity, there are those who could give me thirty- forty for her.

Twenty.

You could bargain with the devil.

I just have.

Come.

Come here.

Come with me.

Don't you want to know her name?

No, I don't suppose it matters.

If you'd call her, she wouldn't hear.

But she was baptised with the name Catherine.

The sea.Here.

Waves.

Waves, waves, waves.

And horses.

Horses riding the waves.

Two, three, four.

Up to here ...

... or here.

Their backs and hoods become fish.

Yes, fish.

Gold.

Waves of gold and enamel

Fish with gaping mouths.

And here,...

..a golden arch of triumph for pepper,

with a naked woman lying on top. Four columns here on the arch

And everything is covered in gold.

Gold, gold, gold.

Night-day, sunset - dawn.

And the winds.

The four winds.

Then-the statues - a man and a woman.

Two huge figures: Neptune - strong, proud, wicked.

The sea from where salt comes from.

Woman- Earth where the pepper grows.

Mother - flesh.

Catherine, take off your clothes, you must be naked.

Take off your clothes.

Are you a virgin?

Are you a flower?

A guitar?

A faun?

Venus?

A mirror?

Starlight?

An egg?

An oyster?

A puppy?

A goose?

A fish.

I'm glad you're deaf.

Do you know why?

It means I can say anything I want to, I could even say that I might fall in love with you.

Can you imagine Benvenuto Cellini talking of love ...

... or telling you he is afraid.

Afraid of what, you'd say?

Rosso was afraid he couldn't create anymore.

An artist can lose his talent, you know.

Do you have any idea what an artist is?

Are you laughing or crying, stupid girl?

Do you love me?

I don't love you.

Or perhaps I do, I don't know.

But don't cry.

I was thinking of having a child by you.

There are other little Cellini scattered around the world. Who knows?

Mightn't have been a bad idea, what do you think?

Your child and mine.

They say that a man without a children dies alone like a dog.

What do you think, Catherine?

Are you crying for me?

Or laughing at me?

Mon Ami.(My friend)

This tent I call it the tent of memories.

I remember my youth, my adults, Italy.

Benvenuto, still on your knees...

What have you brought me?

Give it to me.

How small it is.

and yet not monument, ..

as more exquisitely finished detail.

You see, you have obeyed me and made a work of art.

A useless one, you are thinking, which it never make you imortal

A stupid object, to stand on tables, but I find it magnificent

because it's beautiful and useful at the same time.

I'll make you French then you won't leave me.

But perhaps I'll leave you ...

Strange ..

The more you begin to feel alone in the world

... the more you heat to leave it.

I have reached the age when I look at life.

as a defeat I have to accept.

Traitor.

Thief.

What have I stolen?

It's just a woman.

I'll kill you.

No, Benvenuto.

Get out both.

Get out.

Be-benvenuto Ce-cellini?

Here is the act, ...

...accusation.

You have been ordered ...

... to go to court.

To court.

criminal court ...criminal court

I can't make up what it says.

What's the charge?

What's the charge?

What's the charge?

I am innocent, I don't want to die.

I did nothing.

Ask those who know me.

Well... name.

Benvenuto Cellini, Your Excelency.

Cellini?

I came to answer the summons in the name of his majesty

..but I still don't know what I'm accused of.

I'm sure that you'll find out, Cellini.

Plaintiff Catherine de Dew, an orphan, filed a complaint with the court.

This pimp? ..What is this pimp doing here?

I am this girl's guardian, Excelency.

She has no one else in the world.

You can see for yourself, how young and innocent she is.

If I can see for myself ,I don't really need you to point it out to me.

My child, tell us what happened between you and this man?

She can't, Excelency, she is deaf and dumb.

No, I'm not.

She, she was ...

She doesn't appear to be now

You cheated on me, slut.

Let her go.

This is a courtroom.

Catherine.

Catherine, ...

what kind of relation did you have with this man?

If you mean that I lay...that I layed with him

I mean how?

I told you your Excelency, she's an innocent child!

Do you think she didn't understand the question?

All right.

Catherine, you make love to this man?

Is that a crime?

Catherine ... tell him the truth.

Since you could hear me all the time, tell him what I said to you.

How did he make love to you?

the French way or the Italian way?

Presumably the French way since she knows so much about it.

Silence! Silence in court!

Or I won't be able to hear anymore.

Well, my dear.

Here, in front of all these people?

Describe exactly what he did to you!

I'm ashamed, Your Honor.

So you should be!

Silence.

Come and whisper in my ear.

You are accused of ..

having unnatural relationship with her...that is

using her as she were a man, and then female.

... that is Sodomy!

Do you know the penalty for such an act?

Yes, Your Excelency

to be burned at the stake, ...

but I also know the law prescribes the same penalty

for both the active and the passive partners

in such a crime they must both be burned.

Along with that woman

Is that true, your Excelency?

That's enough!Silence!

Justice demands that you grab this woman

... who has freely confessed the crime in your presence.

What do you say, Catherine, will you die with me?

How can you be so cruel?

This poor child, and so very beautiful.

Would you really left unpunished such an horrible act

No, your Excelency, but you would.

And if you don't, His Majesty may be interested to know

... what a mockery you make of his laws

My child, I'm already old, ..

... and my hearing is not as is used to be.

Perhaps I didn't quite hear what you said to me.

Did you or did you not accuse this man of having committing ...

... unnatural acts with you?

Go in peace ...

...both of you.

Get out of my court!

Was is it worth, Catherine?

Was any of it worth?

Deaf and dumb again?

A secret, Majesty?

No, a confession.

Why do you smile?

Don't you think I have things to confess?

Ambitions, desires.

For five years I've vorked to please you

You know what my hands can do .. but what did they make for me?

I want to make a statue.

Don't ask me why.

You are a king.

You ought to know about leaving monuments for posterity.

I've mentioned some possibilities to his Excelency, the treasurer

What do you say to a Narcissus or Perseus, cutting off Medusa's head.

Something on a great scale, something magnificent..something..

Ah, there you are..

His Majesty is too tired to see you.

He has charged me to tell you that this is a time of war, not statues.

He wishes only that you you to gild these two objects which pleases him highly

FLORENCE, 1547

You fell asleep.

- What? - You fell asleep.

I fell asleep?

And what's more, you screamed.

Liar.

You screamed like a stock pig.

How would you know, you're deaf. All deaf and senile.

We're the same age.

You are at least ten years older than I am.

Well, at least age bring wisdom to some...

... hopelessly not to you.

- Master Benvenuto. - Master?

Master of what? ..Fake coins?

Pretty trinkets?

Mylady the Duchess is waiting for you.

And I'm waiting for the duke.

You must have a bad dream, Benvenuto!

Guilty conscience?

- Baccio. - What?

Over there.

What have you got there, my dear Benvenuto?A small cannon?

A model, Excelency

- What model? - My Perseus.

Perseus?

If your Excelency would be good enough to judge my model for a large sculpture

Well, I will look at it and eventually bestow you such favors as you never dreamed of.

Provided, of course it pleases me.

To be cast in bronze, ten feet high (3 meters).

Your opinion, must excellent lord?

Patience.

I'm forming an opinion.

What do you think, Baccio?

One can't deny it has some merit, Excellency

Why doesn't Master Cellini make a small gold statuette from it..

... as he has done?

Is that your Excellency's opinion?

No, not exactly...

Then you can see it's originality- the frost of the figure.

the frost ...will fall over .

Let me know how much it will cost me? Then I'll decide

Excellency..

... I think Master Cellini is more used to working on a small scale.

I doubt if he could manage something so ambitious...

so expensive...

- You're gelous. - Of what? ..

A wax statuette?

My dear Benvenuto, you seem to forget that I am the leading sculptor in Florence.

I thought Michelangelo had that honor.

Michelangelo is in Rome, I am in Florence.

Yes,...

... and your shame can be seen by that every Florentine

Your statues are everywhere ..

... and everywhere they're the same - clumsy, derivative, uninspired.

I think it is Cellini who is jealous, Excelency.

The only thing I can be jealous of , Bacio is your success..

You can make anything you want and I have to beg and scratch arround in the dirt.

And yet, here is the funny thing - I have talent, and you don't.

You have only to get out in the streets, gentleman and see for yourselves.

Shoulders of greek heros that look like blankets on a donkey.

The breasts of the nymphs are more like pumpkins.

I'll kill you for this.

I can assure you of one thing, Baccio, ..

... 10 years after your death, you'll be completely forgotten.

Sodomite!

I only wish I knew how to practice such a noble art

since we read that Job did it in paradise.

and I've heard know that the greatest emperors and kings on earth are practicing it too.

Unfortunately, I'm too insignificant a creature

... to get involved in such a wonderful thing..

Ah, Cellini.

The Duchess told me..

Yes, I'm coming.

She no longer wishes to see you, she orders you to hand over to me what you owe her.

What I owe her?

I don't owe her anything.

I'll give her this.

You wouldn't understand,..

... but paying hommage to a beautiful woman is a very personal pleasure.

Baccio.

Listen, Benvenuto, don't be stupid

Don't do anything you might regret.

I don't intend to.

Please give me a day's grace so I can confess.

.. I don't want to die like a dog, as you will.

Who is the boy?

My son.

Are you all right?

Yes..It's just I can't seem to remember where I live.

I'd help you, but I don't know either.

You ... you're not well.

I live here.

If you like to...

No, thank you.

It's very kind of you.

What are you doing, you crazy fool?

Making love to a statue?

Are you deaf?

I've left some food for you on the table.

I'm leaving now and not coming back until you have the money to pay me.

But Fiore, I need what money I've got to pay my workmen

So why should I work here?

I don't know. You tell me.

What happened to all the money you made in France?

I lost it.

I've always lost all the money I made...always

The King of France once gave me one thousand scudos for a salt cellar.

A right royal ass.

He even gave me a castle.

He should have given you a brain.

Why did you come back?

Because I wanted to work only for myself, ...

... to make art the way I want to.

Big words.

Go eat your soup before it gets cold...

... and sweet dreams.

I couldn't kill the man today because his son was there.

And you're sad because you didn't murder someone?

Mother of God!

... you're impossible!

In the old days I wouldn't..

Oh, yes, the old days...

... how many did you kill?

Why did you come back?

To do some washing.

At this hour?

You never understand, do you?

What needs washing arround here is you.

Do I stink? - Yes.

Of misery.

I am His excelency the Duke's treasurer.

His Excelency wishes to inform you that

if you really want to make that statue, ..

... you must submit a petition.

-He wants me to submit a petition? Yes, those are his instructions.

Perhaps you are not aware, you little pipsqueak

that the normal practice is to draw up a contract between artist and patron.

A contract presupposes equality between the parties. In this case, such an equality does not exist.

I'm not some poor young idiot begging for a commision, you know!

His Excellency knows what you are.

He also knows that you have taken the liberty of exploiting his name

and filling your courtyard with material for a work he has not ordered.

And I know what you are.

A humble school master creeping before a schoolboy ..

... who was fortunate enough to become a duke.

Stay away from me.

You're no treasurer, you are nothing but pathetic cockroach.

Help.

It's dangerous up there. You really better come down

I am a good Christian.

Of course you are.

You won't attack me.

I won't even breathe on you.

A christian can always turn the other cheek.

If that were true,my friend, we would be living in a better world.

You will get 200 scudo a year, in monthly payments.

It's the same sum that duke pays Baccio Bandinelli for his services.

And what are my services to be ?

You will make jewelry to order and undertake whatever restoration...

What about the statue?

The statue can not be made.

Why not?

The melting of the bronze will present an insuperable obstacle.

The rules of art don't permit it.

Everyone knows you're an excellent goldsmith, Benvenuto, ..

... but I understand great sculptures better than you.

Perhaps, Excellency, but as a duke, not as an artist.

Forgive me.

Without your help, it will be impossible for me to make my statue ..

to your glory or the glory of anyone else in the world.

... but I'll try all the same.

You mean..

you intend to make your statue at your own expense?

In that case, let me know the price of it when it's finished.

When it's finished , Excellency it will be beyound the price, and even you won't be able to afford it.

In other words, you have flattered your face in the shit?

I'm risking my reputation, my future, everything.

They all are expecting me to fail. And you call what I did landing in the shit.

Don't you understand that's what I'm here for?

To defy destiny and stupidity.

Destiny is always against us, and stupid people always win in this topsy turvy world.

You are going to destroy yourself - body and soul.

Take it from me.

And you take this from me.

Benvenuto!

Do you see it, Benvenuto?

As if it is already cast.

So do I.

- What? Through all this mud? Yes, but is only a dream...

I mean...look, how will the melted bronze get up there?

If I were you, I'd worry less about the Medusa's head

... and more about the Perseus' right foot.

He has the funny habit to travel upwards rather than downwards

Why does he always contradict me?

I lived with the statue all my whole life, I conceived it as a child.

and I'm giving birth to it, as an old man. Defy all obstacles.

Benvenuto, what is it? .. Here, take my hand.

this is the only way to extract a foreign body...

... and save his eyesight.

If we lose Benvenuto's eyes, ..

... we will lose his brain too. And I lose my statue

which in my opinion it's already lost anyway.

Bernardino.

Hurry up, you idle loafs, do you think you'll be finished by Christmas?

You can't shit in the house, do you understand?

Go.

Lady, we're starving here! Well, you'll have to wait.

- Bernardino. -Here I am, master.

Watch and learn, Bernardino.

This is what is called the lost wax process.

I 've model wax over the core to assume the final form of my statue.

After this we build the ultimate layer of clay mixed with horse dung

The fire will melt the wax, creating a space into which we pour the bronze.

You understand? - Yes.

Benvenuto.

To cast the bronze into this space, we shall have to bury it entirely next to the furnace.

and cast it into a giant shell

This is the way the ancients worked ... And noone else today is able to do it.

This permits to the bronze to flown down

Doesn't eat, doesn't sleep.

The wax also flows out through the verge, do you understand?

Yes, I do.

Benvenuto..

- Benvenuto. - What is it, for God's sake?

I made you some soup.

Is that all?

You want something else?

No, leave me alone.

Men...

Have you finished?

Almost.

More wood ... More wood.

Sebastiano, Bernardino, help me melt the metal.

More, more.

Faster ... It's raining.

Start the fire higher.

Make a fire.

The roof is on fire.

Water ... Water.

Let the roof burn, I don't care if the house burn down, ..

... this is better for metal, it will melt better.

Francesco.

Don't worry, Fiore, he's just worn out.

How many nights that he hasn't slept

Let him rest now.All night if he can.

We'll try to handle the furnace by ourselves ... Come on.

Benvenuto.

Benvenuto.

Benvenuto.

Benvenuto.

Benvenuto.

Are you feeling better?

Are you feeling better?

What happened?

You've just fell to the ground like a log.

I 'm sick...

I won't live till morning.

You are as alive as I am!

All you you need is sleep.

Sleep.

Sleep.

Sleep.

Look, the metal is starting to cake.

Let's see

Wake up!

What?

Who? .. Who are you?

Your statue is ruined, my dear Benvenuto.

Ruined!

... and nothing in the world can save it.

Fiore.

Fiore!

What is it? What is the matter?

Benvenuto!

You need rest.

Benvenuto, the metal is caked.

What?

You did it! You did it! I'll kill you.

- No. - I will.

- No. - You murdered my statue ...

Idiots! You useless idiots!

What has happened with the fire?

Where did it get out?

There's no wood left, master.

Ask the shipman out there for some of his oak.

Run!

It's caked.

The alloy, you fool, can't you see, there is no more tin in the alloy, it is burnt away!

Get all the tin you can find.

Pans, bowls, cups - everything.

You are crazy.

Run! It's too late!

I have an idea.

He almost killed himself, now he will kill us.

Run!

Hurry up, throw in.

It's all yours, Benvenuto and God bless you.

Thank you.

Give it to me.

Good luck.

I'll give you back a thousand bowls.

You see, I've ressurected the dead, now I won't die either.

Sebastiano ... look.

Come on.

Up.

It took Benvenuto five years to get paid by Cosimo de Medici.

His Perseus won triumphant acclaim from the people of Florence

when it was displayed in the Loggia dei Lanzi.

Benvenuto was then 54 years old.

At 56, he went to prison for brawling.

At 57 for sodomy.

In 60 he took holy orders.

At 62 he renounced them, married and had five children.

He died poor at the age of 71.